Plan to cut off the nine states

Meng Nilun left the city from the north gate, led ten soldiers, drove three carriages, loaded with boxes of copper coins, cotton clothes and other items, took the main road and went straight to the officers and soldiers camp.

After the last defeat, the officers and soldiers retreated more than ten miles to occupy a more favorable terrain and no longer dared to siege the city at will. Although it was easy to defend, the troops became increasingly sparse. In many areas, there were only hastily set up barracks and no soldiers to guard them.

Meng Nilun looked at it from a distance and couldn't help but sigh. He felt that King Wu was too cautious. If the whole army participated in the battle today and attacked from all sides, they would definitely be able to break through the enemy camp, achieve great achievements, and shock the heroes of the world.

But the order he received was not to ignore the enemy's situation, but to "reward" the enemy's newly arrived reinforcements, and he must go to the North City.

A group of cavalry arrived in front. Meng Nilun stopped and said loudly: "I am the messenger of the King of Wu. I want to see the commander-in-chief of your army. Please guide me."

The cavalry did not stop. They came and surrounded the messenger. They carefully inspected the items on the car and asked, "What is this? A bribe?"

Meng Silun smiled and said, "If you want, you can take some."

"Hey, we have no shortage of cotton-padded clothes, but the copper coins are too heavy and we don't like them."

"Haha, of course the people of Jizhou are not short of cotton-padded clothes, and outsiders may be in need of them. The copper coins are so heavy because there are so many. Let's give one to each of the visiting soldiers as a bonus."

The cavalry officer's face changed slightly and he scolded: "What nonsense are you talking about? Where are the outsiders and guest soldiers coming from?"

"Please lead the way. Can the two armies at least allow messengers to communicate with each other?"

The officer snorted and took the lead, while his soldiers escorted the messenger and his party to the camp.

Most of Jizhou's troops were transferred to the east. There were not many people in the northern camp, and everyone was on guard. When they saw the messenger in the city, they all looked strangely.

Meng Sylun's heart skipped a beat.

Wang Tiemei is the commander-in-chief of Jizhou. Of course, he will not stay in Beiying to wait for the messenger, nor will he make a special trip. Meng Nilun and others waited in the tent for a long time, and finally someone came.

Meng Senglun recognized this person as Wang Tiemei's aide named Sun Yalu, so he cupped his hands and said with a smile: "I'm just here to give some winter supplies to the guest soldiers. How dare I work for Sun Canjun to come here myself?"

Sun Yalu smiled and stepped forward and said: "The soldiers from Jizhou came all the way, they are indeed guests, but why did King Wu suddenly remember how to treat guests and send General Meng to send gifts?"

"We are all guests from far away. Don't get me wrong, Sun Canjun. This gift is given by King Wu to the newly arrived guests, not the old guests from Jizhou."

Sun Yalu looked confused, "Where are the new guests? What is General Meng talking about?"

Meng Nilun sighed, this was the most difficult time. The King of Wu guessed that the reinforcements could only come from one of the two groups, so he asked him to adapt to the situation and choose to deceive the truth along the way. But now he only saw that the Jizhou soldiers looked different and could not ask. Any clue can only be blinded once.

"It was a slip of the tongue. For us, it is the arrival of new guests, but for the new guests, it is the return of the old master. The general is traveling back and forth, and he must be short of clothes and money. King Wu offers this small gift to show his sincerity. He has no other intentions."

Sun Yalu laughed and reached out to pat Meng Silun on the shoulder, appearing affectionate, "General Meng really loves to joke. The general is far away in Hanzhou. We really wanted to invite him, but he never came. It's good for you, even the 'small gift' was given in advance It’s here. Well, I’ll accept it on behalf of the general and forward it to him when he comes. I’m afraid that the cotton clothes will be useless by then and I’ll only be able to share the copper coins.”

Meng Nilun was greatly disappointed. It seemed that he had guessed wrong, so he had to make amends: "The general is not here, so the Jingzhou soldiers are also needed. They come from the south, so they must not have enough cotton clothes."

Sun Yalu laughed louder, "General Meng, stop joking. Jingzhou is recruiting troops. Not to mention that they are not willing to come now. Even if they are willing to come, there are not many people. Well, this gift from King Wu is quite worthy. Wait. The general is here, so I have to ask you to send me another one, haha.”

Meng Nilun guessed wrongly one after another, and his face could not help but turn red. He could not guess any more, so he could only say sarcastically: "Anyway, please accept the gift first. Whichever reinforcement arrives first, please ask Sun Canjun to give it to you."

"No problem, I will definitely convey King Wu's kindness. Interesting, how could King Wu suddenly come up with such an idea?"

"King Wu has heard some rumors, and they must be wrong."

"This kind of thing happens all the time, so I don't blame King Wu."

Meng Senglun took his leave, and Sun Yalu led him out of the camp, saying as he walked: "General Meng's return is really sudden. Can you tell me the truth, has King Wu prepared an army to rush out of the east city and fight a decisive battle with the officers and soldiers?"

"Haha, I just said that the rumor was wrong, here is another one. Where did Sun Canjun hear such strange news?" Meng Nilun said casually.

"It's just a rumor, where did it come from? But to be honest, General Wang took it seriously. You see, most of our troops were transferred to the east, leaving only the old and weak. When I saw you coming, I thought King Wu had changed his mind and wanted to attack this place. I felt a little nervous. General Meng went back and told King Wu, "Don't scare us little soldiers anymore. If you really want to fight, let me know in advance. Let's fight in an open and fair manner. The winner and loser will show their true qualities, so there is no need to play tricks." A real-life trick?"

Meng Silun would never allow anyone to belittle the King of Wu, and immediately replied: "When you people from Jizhou came, you didn't notify us in advance, but now you want us to tell the truth?"

"It's different. The Jizhou Army is an army of the imperial court. It is ordered to return to the Eastern Capital. It cannot be said to be 'coming', and there is no need to explain it to the guests in advance."

"Although we don't recognize the imperial edict, we at least know that Tiancheng's imperial edict is in the east of Jiangdong, not in Jizhou."

"Haha, we are both ministers, why are we fighting over this? There is no chance this time. Next time General Meng comes again, we must have a good drink."

“Can’t wait to see more.”

As he spoke, he arrived at the gate of the military camp. Meng Nilun bowed his hands and said goodbye. He took a last look and saw that there were still few soldiers in the camp, and there were still doubts on their faces. However, Sun Yalu explained very clearly that these people were afraid that King Wu would send troops to attack north. Not because of hidden reinforcements.

King Wu was wrong. It was just over half of the day. If he sent troops to fight, it might still be too late. Jizhou did not have enough troops. Meng Nilun thought that he could attack the northern camp by recruiting three thousand troops. If the northern camp was ready, he would attack the western camp instead. There won't be many left behind there.

With this idea in mind, Meng Nilun galloped back to the city, leaving his entourage far behind.

The army assembled in the city was disbanding, and people were shouting everywhere, demanding that such-and-such team should not move, and that such-and-such team should retreat first. The soldiers who had stood for a long time could not help but complain, especially those from the Incarnation Army, who did not like strict restraints in the first place. , The futility of their work made them even more angry, and their complaints were directed at the King of Wu, without even shying away.

When Meng Silun heard this, he became more and more anxious and rode straight to the camp.

The guards at the camp had already been informed, and when they saw General Meng, they immediately brought him to the meeting hall.

In the hall, the kings were waiting for news. They rarely talked to each other and seemed a little embarrassed. They had just come to the conclusion that it was not appropriate to fight again today. They explained the team first and then selected the fighter plane.

Meng Silun ran all the way in and paid homage to the King of Wu. He saw that all the kings were there, and some of their generals also came and stood with the King of Wu's guards. He didn't know what to say to save the King of Wu's face.

Xu Chu had no intention of hearing the news in private, so he said: "General Meng, please tell us everything you saw and heard here. Don't conceal or omit anything."

King Wu spoke very seriously, and Meng Nilun could only elaborate on it. At first, he did not mention his conclusion. In the end, he felt that time was urgent, so he simply said it all: "The rulers and kings must not miss the opportunity. The enemy will concentrate their forces." On the east side, the other three sides must be empty. I have seen the north camp with my own eyes, and the same must be true for the west and south camps. I only need three thousand soldiers to break through an enemy camp and make the enemy troops lose sight of me. Going to 'reward' the enemy is indeed a clever plan."

Meng Nilun tried hard to excuse King Wu, but King Wu didn't appreciate it.

Xu Chu listened in silence and said, "What do you think?"

Xue Jinyao was the first to speak, "General Meng is right. The soldiers outside should not be completely dispersed yet. Let's each lead one out of the city and return with a great victory before dark."

Meng Nilun nodded heavily to the general who came to the world and expressed his agreement. The only difference was that he wanted to lead the army himself instead of following a certain king.

He now urgently needs to perform meritorious deeds to regain King Wu's favor with him.

The three kings of Ning, Shu and Liang were silent, as if they could not make up their minds, or maybe they did not want to embarrass King Wu in public. After all, they were not Xue Jinyao.

King Ning's subordinate Luo Hanqi had just arrived, and he felt anxious. He took a step forward and said loudly: "It's just a war, what's the point of hesitating? King Wu made a small mistake, saying that there were reinforcements, but it turned out that there were no reinforcements. So what?" As long as the officers and soldiers are defeated today, who will remember this? King Wu will give the order again, our Ning army..."

"Back off." Ning Baoguan scolded Luo Hanqi. Luo Hanqi was stunned, but he was really afraid of King Ning and did not dare to refute. He shut up and returned to the team, with an unconvinced expression on his face.

None of the generals dared to speak. Ma Wei coughed and said, "Listen to what General Meng said - it seems that Jizhou really has reinforcements."

Meng Nilun was stunned and said hurriedly: "How did King Liang hear this? Sorry, I didn't mean anything else, but I made it very clear that the officers and soldiers had no help. They were just afraid that the rebels would attack Beiying."

Ma Wei didn't bother to argue with a general and turned his head silently. King Shu smiled and said: "General Meng, don't worry, King Liang is right. First, the Jizhou soldiers had different expressions when they first saw the general. They changed color as soon as they saw the general." , or did you change your mind after hearing that there was something on the car to ‘reward’ the guest soldiers?”

Meng Nilun thought about it for a moment and immediately understood his stupidity, "It was after I heard about it, but..."

Gan Zhao continued: "Secondly, the person who received General Meng was Sun Yalu. This person was not a general, but an aide under the enemy commander's tent. He was known for his sharp tongue. The two armies were facing each other, and the decisive battle was imminent. Wang Tiemei did not send any troops. The general showed his military power and sent a staff member to receive the envoy, presumably to hide something. "

Meng Silun was stunned again, "I didn't expect this, Sun Yalu..."

"No wonder, General Meng is a military general, eager to achieve merit, but he was deceived by a scholar. This is nothing. Sun Yalu has nothing to worry about when he shows his true ability on the battlefield."

Meng Nilun admitted that he was too gullible, but he had not completely changed his conclusion. Looking around, he saw that most of the generals and guards on both sides had the same idea as him.

"Since we have reinforcements, why not show them out instead of hiding them?" Meng Nilun asked.

Gan Zhao looked at the kings and saw that no one spoke. He smiled and said, "It's hard to say. I'm not an officer or soldier. I don't know what they think. I can only make a random guess. I guess Jizhou used reinforcements as an ambush. The ambush location is very close." It may be Beiying. If the rebels start fighting today, no matter which direction they leave the city, they will probably be led to Beiying. What does General Meng think of the situation in Beiying? "

Meng Nilun was stunned again and murmured: "Looking back now... there seems to be a large depression on the west side of Beiying. If there is anything hidden in it, I can't see it."

Gan Zhao said: "Well, that's right. The officers and soldiers guessed that we were going to leave the city in the east, so they hid the ambush on the west side of the North Camp and lured us in from the east. I just don't know which branch the reinforcements are?"

"It must be the general." Ma Wei sneered, "The general led the Luozhou soldiers. He wanted to gain a foothold in Hanzhou. The soldiers were homesick and would mutiny on the way, so they had to return and join the Yecheng army. They dared not show up, firstly to form an ambush, and secondly to fear that the rebels would use the people in the city to threaten the Luozhou soldiers."

Xu Chu was silent. He was thinking, among the kings, who had taken the lead in surrendering to Yecheng.